Racism at the University of Virginia

Tuesday, September 4, 2007
Comics section of the University of Virginia official newspaper
Alternative Caption: Barbarian Cannibals

GRANT WOOLARD RESIGNS AS OF SEPTEMBER 11th

 

Comics section of the University of Virginia official newspaper
Alternative Caption: White Male Sexual Exploitation of Black Women is No Big Deal

By Dab Gantz ("Self-Proclaimed) 2005
Comics section of the University of Virginia official newspaper
Alternative Caption: Slavery is No Big Deal

Spot the Women and Minorities in the Right Panel!

 

The University of Virginia Alumni Magazine, Fall 2007, Modified

Learn More about My Experience at UVa

From 2002 to 2007, I witnessed a number of events that have led me to believe that the University of Virginia has a racist campus. I am not saying that the University itself is racist, but there is everything to suggest that a cloud of prejudice and Southern way of life hangs over every part of that school. In one incident, I was walking to class one day and saw a poster hanging in the corridor of one of the academic buildings that told all Black people to go "back to Africa". What made that worse was that there was a monkey on the flyer. While the African American population protested against such demeaning acts of racism, there was little that the Administration did. In fact, the only incident that the Administration seemed to really react to was one in which a Black female student, who was running for student council president, was violently beaten by a white male who called her "nigger" as he  ambushed  her in the wee hours of the morning. There was also the incident where some white fraternity boys wore blackface and an afro wig to a frat party. Then, there was the incident where a first-year white male called his resident adviser a "nigger-bitch" because she had asked him to stop some behavior that was disruptive. I could recount countless stories like these, but the point is that the University sees these events as isolated and has never taken responsibility for its role in upholding a culture that is thoroughly racist and Southern. Many African American students could not walk in the fraternity district without being called a "nigger" or fearing for their safety. I have also heard that other racial minorities feel just as uneasy. Indians, Koreans, Chinese, and Africans have all told me how they tend to stay within their own social circles because of the confrontational environment around them.

But it's not just about the student body.  The faculty has no understanding of the ways in which they promote this culture. I had a professor to tell a class of about sixty third-years that African Americans completely fabricated the historical figure known as Crispus Attucks. As well,  I had a professor, in discussing the Civil War, completely disregard the contributions of African Americans in the war effort. Overall, I only had  five minority teachers out of  fifty-two! The University says that it's taking steps to hire more minority professors, but don't count on it. When it comes to business, all the University can see is dollar signs. In fact, I read a journal article where the dean of admission, John Blackburn, was quoted as saying that accepting more minorities could jeopardize the school's standing, which is one reason I believe why his office gives preferential treatment to out-of-state minority students, because their test scores offset those of in-state minority students, particularly for African Americans. Full Article HERE

Articles about Racism at UVA

'Sanctioning Hate' by A.J. Kornblith, Cavalier Daily Opinion Columnist

'Learning the Three Rs: Race, Racism, and Racialism' by Eric Wang, Cavalier Daily Columnist

'A Racial Epidemic' by Elliot Haspel, Cavalier Daily Associate Editor

'A Sugar-Coated View of History" by Zack Fields, Cavalier Daily Columnist

Articles about Ethiopian Food Fight

Cavalier Daily- "At least 100 University students packed the entrances to The Cavalier Daily office last night to protest several comics printed recently and to call for a long-term solution to what they see as an ongoing problem with Cavalier Daily comics.

The students marched from the Amphitheater in silent protest of Tuesday's comic strip by Graphics Editor Grant Woolard that portrayed figures clad in loincloths fighting one another with an assortment of random objects. Text below the image read "Ethiopian Food Fight." The students also protested Woolard's comic strip published Friday depicting Thomas Jefferson's slave Sally Hemings sitting on a bed while Jefferson stands near her with a whip in his hand. The text read "Thomas, could we try role-play for a change?"

Upon arrival at the offices of The Cavalier Daily, representatives of the protesters requested a private audience with members of the newspaper's Managing Board, presenting demands that are to be met by Friday to address their concerns.

The protest followed an afternoon discussion held at Peabody Hall by concerned students who were joined by Interim Dean of Students Allen Groves and Assoc. Dean of Students Leonard Perry to decide on a suitable course of action.

The afternoon meeting began with fourth-year College student Solome Paulos, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People political action chair, presenting Groves with a written statement of demands in regards to Graphics Editor Grant Woolard's comic strip....READ MORE

Daily Progress- "The Cavalier Daily apologized Thursday for publishing a comic strip that sparked a sit-in protest by nearly 200 black University of Virginia students the previous evening.

"We apologize to the entire university community for the poor editorial judgment exercised in running a comic that is so clearly inappropriate and hurtful," the student-run newspaper's editors wrote in an editorial titled "Worth 1,000 Words" that ran in Thursday editions.

The comic in question, "Quirksmith," was drawn and written by one of the Cavalier Daily's two graphics editors, Grant Woolard. With a caption that read, "Ethiopian Food Fight," the comic depicted nine emaciated black men fighting each other with stools, chairs and other objects....Read More

Letter to the Editor

 Cavalier Daily- "...It is true that some parts of Ethiopia are currently suffering from food shortages. But if The Cavalier Daily is making a reference to food scarcity in Africa they are doing so by supporting demeaning stereotypes of Africans as mostly naked savages. Students should not support humiliating stereotypes or jokes aimed at the very real suffering of others.

But I doubt The Cavalier Daily intended a political commentary on poverty in Africa. Rather, Woolard's comic seems to be a representation of cannibals fighting with each other. Most scholars, and particularly historians of Africa, now understand that false accusations of cannibalism were used as propaganda to gain support in Europe for decimation or domination of non-Europeans. For the communities who anthropologists and historians believe occasionally consumed human flesh, the cannibalistic act was always a religious event, not an instance of savage natives beating each other to death for food.

Much more importantly,Woolard's comic strip perpetrates to a grotesque degree the racial prejudices that have always crippled American society. By portraying the cannibals as black and linking them to Ethiopia, The Cavalier Daily has implied that all Ethiopians, and by extension anyone descended from Africans, are savages. Every student, faculty and staff member at the University should be outraged at this publication of such a crude, disrespectful and damaging distortion. This cartoon demonstrates ignorance and intolerance and fosters a hostile learning environment. Particularly at an institution where plaques on brick walls commemorate Mr. Jefferson but no plaques commemorate the slaves who actually laid the brick, this sort of racism is lamentably too predictable. Woolard and The Cavalier Daily should offer a public apology for their bigotry." Read it in its Entirety

-Jared Staller

Comments

[BB]

Common sense should have said not to print those cartoon panels. I mean really. It is the arrogance that gets me. The simple arrogance and refusal not to "get it." Then again, when you hold the power, you see and understand what you want to. Truth be damned.